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i
i
ftoA-- Columbia
75th Year -- No. 133 Good Morning! It's Thursday, February 17, 1983 2 Sections - 14 Pages - 25 Cents
v
K ftjBilkV -- " ii 7flf Ifr IBHHIHHhiHwB
''&& k14"! jL- - '' z jtaKg tWpCBBBOIHbBH
' rXtft R2J& v -- ' jU" ff'" H"' fS" LZni'M'fH"" fyGSfBM
University forestry
student Scott
Radcl iffe drops
safety straps over
the edge of a bluff
on Rock Quarry
Road to fellow
student Steve
Karloff. Radcliffe,
with three years of
climbing
experience, was
teaching Karloff
how to climb
Wednesday.
finr SsHokr -- jtBBffiBBttttlBBBBB& iSEBBB ' SBSHKflBnlBvJi
Greg HontnMlvcplMitos
President vows jobs boost
WASHINGTON ( UPI) President Rea-gan
said Wednesday the economic recovery
is " flexing its muscles," but too many unem-ployed
Americans are suffering the lingering
pain of the recession. He promised quick ac-tion
on a new Jobs plan.
Reagan told a news conference he hopes to
work out a compromise in " a few days" with
congressional Democrats on his $ 4.3 billion
plan to boost employment by speeding up
federal construction work. He expressed
hope the final package will be on his desk by
March.
But the jobs program would not be " just a
quick fix" to trim the nation's 10.4 percent
unemployment rate, he said. The president's
initial plan would create nearly a half- milli- on
jobs. There are 11.4 million Americans
out of work.
During the 35- rnin- ute session, Reagan also:
Said he has full confidence in embattled
Environmental Protection Agency chief
Anne Gorsuch and believed the agency's
relationship with the firms it polices in its
toxic waste program " is what it should be."
f Stood his ground on the EPA's refusal to
turn over subpoenaed documents to a House
subcommittee, which led the House to hold
Mrs. Gorsuch in contempt. Reagan said the
Reagan staunch on refusal
to release EPA documents
material was exempt from congressional
scrutiny on grounds of executive privilege.
" We would never invoke executive privilege
to cover up wrong- doing- ."
Acknowledged U. S. military activity in
the Mediterranean, but said the action was
not unusual and not taken in response to any
specific maneuvering by the radical Libyan
regime of Moammar Khadafy.
Declared he will resist efforts to elimi-nate
the scheduled 1985 adoption of tax in-dexing,
which is designed to keep inflation
from pushing taxpayers into higher brack-ets.
The president repeated his argument
that government for too long has used infla-tion
as a hidden tax.
In an opening statement at the 16th news
conference of his term, Reagan took note of
new economic indicators announced Wednes-day
a nearly 36 percent rise in housing
starts from December to January and a 0.9
percent increase in factory production last
month. " As a result of the economic pro-gram
already in place, the recovery is begin-ning
to flex its muscles," he said.
" But far too many Americans are still un-employed.
The question before us of course
is how to ease the burden upon us without
jeopardizing the economic recovery-- "
Reagan outlined his plan to speed up alre-ady-
planned building projects worth $ 4.7
billion to provide 470,000 jobs, add $ 2.9 billion
to fund supplementary unemployment insur-ance
for workers whose benefits have run
out, and add $ 300 million in " humanitarian
relief."
Democrats in Congress have endorsed
Reagan's package but want to go further, es-pecially
in terms of providing more relief to
the suffering. They would add about $ 1 bil-lion
for summer youth jobs, nutrition aid for
mothers and children, and weatherization.
Methods of rescue effort criticized
By Brent Franzel
Mlssourian staff writer
Last week's effort to save a 15- year-- old
drowning victim was marked by acts of
courage but poor organization, according to
one of those who participated in the effort to
save David Neal.
" I don't think there's any excuse that kid
died," said the rescue worker who asked not
to be identified.
" The individual firemen out there really
risked their lives," he said of the many at-tempts
to reach Neal, who drowned Feb. 9
after breaking through thin ice on a pond be-hind
Shady Lakes Estate trailer court. " It
was courageous, but I don't know if it was all
that smart They apparently did these things
as individuals. Somebody should have said,
' You're not going out there without a line.' "
According to an internal Columbia Fire
Department critique of the effort, firefight-
I ers did everything possible to save Neal in
the department's first attempted rescue on
ice in 30 years.
" I'd never say that anything went wrong,"
said Chief Girard " Toot" Wren. " They did
everything possible to get the kid."
Boone County firefighter Doug Westhoff
who had to be treated for exposure after try-ing
to reach Neal by boat said the opera-tion
may have looked confused but that res-cuers
did their jobs properly.
" We had several different ideas in our
minds of how to rescue the little boy," he
said, " and we were carrying them out in dif-ferent
stages. I felt the two departments
( county and city) worked great together."
Yet policeman Al Mitchell, one of the di-vers
involved in the rescue, complained that
he and Officer Jim Ford became tangled in
safety lines that were running to boats on the
pond.
" Officer Ford got tangled up in the ropes
the Fire Department had out there," Mitch-ell
said. At one point Ford was immobilized
by lines around his neck and had to be pulled
to safety. " We almost lost Ford."
Immediately after Ford was pulled free of
the ropes, the divers were ordered out of the
water by one of their superiors.
" I was only briefed by Doug Westhoff a
county fireman," Mitchell said. " The indi-vidual
firemen we talked to were as helpful
as they could be to us."
But, Mitchell added, there was no direc-tion
whatsoever from the fire official in
charge.
Columbia Battalion Chief Ken Owens, who
was in charge of the city fire crew, said he
wasn't aware of any dissatisfaction with the
rescue.
" I didn't hear that brought up at all during
the critique," Owens said of the Sunday af-ternoon
session that involved representa-tives
of virtually every agency that partici
pated in the rescue effort city and county
firefighters, police, ambulance personnel
and a University Hospital helicopter pilot. " I
thought the whole operation ran smoothly."
The department critiques its efforts after
every major fire or rescue. Wren said. Those
involved Sunday agreed the University Hos-pital's
helicopter might have been used to
rescue the boy if it had been summoned to
the scene earlier.
" The helicopter could have been used,"
Wren said. " Maybe we could have gotten a
rope around someone and dropped them
down. We know it's available now."
Those present also recommended that the
Fire Department consider purchasing equip-ment
that could have helped in the rescue
longer ropes and life jackets for the firefight-ers,
for example.
Wren noted that some bystanders at the
scene were critical of the rescue effort.
" The men caught a lot of criticism from
the spectators out there," he said. " They
were ' criticized because they don't own a
boat." But even if the department had owned
a boat, it probably wouldn't have been taken
to the scene immediately because there's no
room for seldom- use- d equipment on the fire
trucks, he added.
" If we do everything possible," Wren con-tinued,
" I don't think we're open for crit-icism.
We're just human we don't walk on
water."
Virus symptoms well known
to tenth of local population
By Lydia Locklin
Missourian staff writer
Your head and throat ache, and you have a
mild fever. You feel the first tickle of a
cough that will drag on for several weeks.
You feel so tired, and every muscle is so sore
that you have to stay home from work today,
tomorrow and the next day.
You're not alone. Roughly 10 percent of Co-lumbia
is ill with the symptoms of some kind
of virus, says Kent Griffith, chief resident of
the department of family and community de-velopment
at the University Health Sciences
Center.
Most of those ill have an adenovirus, a
class of viruses that includes several upper
respiratory infections. Griffith says about
one- four- th to one- hal- f of his recent patients
have had the virus. Private physicians who
have the time to see up to 40 patients a day
may see 20 who are suffering from a type of
adenovirus, Griffith estimates.
No age group is immune, Griffith says.
Children and adults alike have been waking
in the morning with muscle aches. Then
comes a cough lasting several weeks, along
with a fever and sometimes nausea and vom-iting.
Severity ranges from a sore throat lasting
a few days to hospitalization of children as
well as adults because of dehydration and
the aggravation of other health problems.
Sandy Nichols, nurse coordinator for Co-lumbia
Public Schools, says the virus is low-ering
student attendance, but no more than
usual for this time of year. Ms. Nichols says
7-- 8 percent of the school population is out.
That could mean as many as 800 youngsters
staying home because of the virus.
" It's not epidemic proportions, by any
means," Ms. Nichols says. The state defines
an epidemic as an illness attacking 20- 2- 5 per-cent
of the population simultaneously.
" Normally, we expect high absenteeism in
January and February," she says. " It hit us
a little later this year."
Ms. Nichols says various viruses with dif-ferent
symptoms have been moving through
town from week to week. One week students
at a school will complain of aches and fever,
those across town will have stomachaches,
and still others will have chicken pox and
strep throat. Then the situation seems to ro-tate
the next week, Ms. Nichols says.
Griffith stresses that the virus syndrome is
not an epidemic of the flu, or influenza.
" That would be serious," he says. Not that
the miseries of viruses are not serious to
those who are bedridden.
Treating the symptoms is the only way to
deal with the virus because there is no cure,
Griffith says. He advises those with the virus
to control the fever, take an aspirin subsi- tut- e,
drink fluids and rest.
Nothing will guarantee that an individual
will not contract one of the viruses, Griffith
says, and adds the best anyone can do is to
practice good general hygiene.
Mother campaigns for stricter laws
By Chris Edwards
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY The man convicted
I of manslaughter in the deaths of 20- year-- old I Cathy Brickey and 27- year-- old Jay Charpen- -
E tier in an accident on Mother's Day 1980 had g been charged with drunken driving eight
B - months earlier.
H That has led the mother of one of the vio-lin
tiros to start a movement that seeks to get B those arrested for drunken driving off the
HB In September 1979, Kenneth P. Claus was
ma arrested on charges of driving while intoxi- -
HE cated, resisting arrest and second- degre- e as--
nB sault. The drunken- drivin- g charge was
ggj dropped; Claus pleaded guilty to the other
Phb two charges.
HB - Claus was still holding a valid driver's li- JE- aB
cense eight months later when he drove his ffl pickup across an highway median in St.
m Louis County and crashed into Miss Brick- HB- g
ey's car and another pickup.
9H Charpentier a passenger in Claus' truck
BBS and Miss Brickey died in the accident. The
Bffifa& L passengers in the second truck were serious- Kr- ai
injured.
IMpi - A blood test revealed that Claus had a HH Wood- alcoh- ol content nearly three times the
jngffi kgal limit. He pleaded guilty to two counts Rn of manslaughter and two counts of assault in
BH connection with the fatalities.
Death of daughter led mom
to target the drunken driver
DraDKTr
" If that man had been brought to trial im-mediately
in 1979 I feel he would not
have been on the road to kill my daughter,"
said Miss Brickey's mother, Marge Charle- vill- e.
As a result of her daughter's death, Mrs.
Charleville organized the St Louis chapter
of Remove Intoxicated Drivers Inc. As presi-dent
of the group in 1982, she led the success-ful
legislative campaign for stiffer drunken- drivin- g
laws.
This year, she's pushing legislation that
would force a drunken- drivin- g suspect to
give up his driver's license within days of an
arrest.
The proposed legislation would give the
state Revenue Department the power to re-voke
or suspend the license of a motorist who
failed a breathalyzer or other chemical test
measuring for alcohol. The driver could seek
a review, but suspension or revocation would
be automatic for those who didn't do so with-in
10 days of the arrest.
Criminal charges still could be filed
against the driver, but the removal of the li-cense
would not depend on a court convic-tion.
Proponents of the legislation say li-cense
loss is the real punishment They
expect prosecuting attorneys to press consid-erably
fewer drunken- drivin- g charges if the
proposal becomes law.
Legislators must answer an important pol-icy
question: Should a person be punished
with loss of his driver's license before a
court has determined he is guilty of drunk
driving?
Some say no.
Rep. Gary Smith, D- Dext- er, said the sum-mary
suspension and revocation of driver's
licenses could impinge upon the rights of
" the guy who feels innocent."
" This bill presumes you're guilty and goes
ahead and imposes the punishment" said
Smith.
The bill he referred to is sponsored by five
senators. A Senate committee considered the
proposal Feb. 9, but took no vote. A similar
bill is stalled before a House committee.
For Mrs. Charleville, sympathy for a driv-er
who fails chemical tests is misplaced.
" What we're trying to do is bring that sym-pathy
back for the victim,' ' she said.
She likened the withdrawal of licenses by
the Revenue Department to withdrawals by
professional licensing boards, which can be
done without a court decision.
But Sen. John Schneider, D- S- t. Louis
called the proposal a threat to the constitu
tional guarantee of due process.
The bill is before Schneider's committee.
His continued opposition could kill the mea-sure.
rpbiirgloTlh, vhtiseds. ae" iddaudReeqepvureaontecueespsrDotitrreeaccptitpooinrngRfso" icrhwaaritddhirniKvietnrhg'es
A report from another state, however, in-dicates
the majority of drivers may not even
protest when their licenses are revoked or
suspended by an administrative agency.
Revenue Department spokeswoman Diane
Whitley said only one driver in five seeks an
administrative hearing under a similar pro- gram in West Virginia.
meraOtkotehgeeirtt dhsiiefsfciltciicuoelnntssfeoorbfaacthhka, ebiStueanlatderubnvik. ll" enwdoriuvl- d
9 a. m. Boone County Court meets.
County Courtroom, County- Cit- y Build-ing.
7 p. m. Missouri men's wrestling v. In-diana
State. University Fieldhouse.
7: 30 p. m. " The Hobbit." Columbia En-tertainment
Company's musical adapta-tion
of J. R. R. Tolkein's novel. Jefferson
Junior High School Auditorium, tickets
available at door. $ 3.50 adults. $ 2.50
children, students and senior citizens.
8 p. m. Missouri men's basketball vs.
Kansas, Hearnes Center.
8 p. m. Literary reading by novelist Ce-cil
Dawkins. Windsor Lounge. Stephens
College
inside
Business 7A
Classified 4- 5- B j
Comics 6B I
Opinion 4A j
Record 7A I
Sports 1- 3- B I
People 5A I

i
i
ftoA-- Columbia
75th Year -- No. 133 Good Morning! It's Thursday, February 17, 1983 2 Sections - 14 Pages - 25 Cents
v
K ftjBilkV -- " ii 7flf Ifr IBHHIHHhiHwB
''&& k14"! jL- - '' z jtaKg tWpCBBBOIHbBH
' rXtft R2J& v -- ' jU" ff'" H"' fS" LZni'M'fH"" fyGSfBM
University forestry
student Scott
Radcl iffe drops
safety straps over
the edge of a bluff
on Rock Quarry
Road to fellow
student Steve
Karloff. Radcliffe,
with three years of
climbing
experience, was
teaching Karloff
how to climb
Wednesday.
finr SsHokr -- jtBBffiBBttttlBBBBB& iSEBBB ' SBSHKflBnlBvJi
Greg HontnMlvcplMitos
President vows jobs boost
WASHINGTON ( UPI) President Rea-gan
said Wednesday the economic recovery
is " flexing its muscles," but too many unem-ployed
Americans are suffering the lingering
pain of the recession. He promised quick ac-tion
on a new Jobs plan.
Reagan told a news conference he hopes to
work out a compromise in " a few days" with
congressional Democrats on his $ 4.3 billion
plan to boost employment by speeding up
federal construction work. He expressed
hope the final package will be on his desk by
March.
But the jobs program would not be " just a
quick fix" to trim the nation's 10.4 percent
unemployment rate, he said. The president's
initial plan would create nearly a half- milli- on
jobs. There are 11.4 million Americans
out of work.
During the 35- rnin- ute session, Reagan also:
Said he has full confidence in embattled
Environmental Protection Agency chief
Anne Gorsuch and believed the agency's
relationship with the firms it polices in its
toxic waste program " is what it should be."
f Stood his ground on the EPA's refusal to
turn over subpoenaed documents to a House
subcommittee, which led the House to hold
Mrs. Gorsuch in contempt. Reagan said the
Reagan staunch on refusal
to release EPA documents
material was exempt from congressional
scrutiny on grounds of executive privilege.
" We would never invoke executive privilege
to cover up wrong- doing- ."
Acknowledged U. S. military activity in
the Mediterranean, but said the action was
not unusual and not taken in response to any
specific maneuvering by the radical Libyan
regime of Moammar Khadafy.
Declared he will resist efforts to elimi-nate
the scheduled 1985 adoption of tax in-dexing,
which is designed to keep inflation
from pushing taxpayers into higher brack-ets.
The president repeated his argument
that government for too long has used infla-tion
as a hidden tax.
In an opening statement at the 16th news
conference of his term, Reagan took note of
new economic indicators announced Wednes-day
a nearly 36 percent rise in housing
starts from December to January and a 0.9
percent increase in factory production last
month. " As a result of the economic pro-gram
already in place, the recovery is begin-ning
to flex its muscles," he said.
" But far too many Americans are still un-employed.
The question before us of course
is how to ease the burden upon us without
jeopardizing the economic recovery-- "
Reagan outlined his plan to speed up alre-ady-
planned building projects worth $ 4.7
billion to provide 470,000 jobs, add $ 2.9 billion
to fund supplementary unemployment insur-ance
for workers whose benefits have run
out, and add $ 300 million in " humanitarian
relief."
Democrats in Congress have endorsed
Reagan's package but want to go further, es-pecially
in terms of providing more relief to
the suffering. They would add about $ 1 bil-lion
for summer youth jobs, nutrition aid for
mothers and children, and weatherization.
Methods of rescue effort criticized
By Brent Franzel
Mlssourian staff writer
Last week's effort to save a 15- year-- old
drowning victim was marked by acts of
courage but poor organization, according to
one of those who participated in the effort to
save David Neal.
" I don't think there's any excuse that kid
died," said the rescue worker who asked not
to be identified.
" The individual firemen out there really
risked their lives," he said of the many at-tempts
to reach Neal, who drowned Feb. 9
after breaking through thin ice on a pond be-hind
Shady Lakes Estate trailer court. " It
was courageous, but I don't know if it was all
that smart They apparently did these things
as individuals. Somebody should have said,
' You're not going out there without a line.' "
According to an internal Columbia Fire
Department critique of the effort, firefight-
I ers did everything possible to save Neal in
the department's first attempted rescue on
ice in 30 years.
" I'd never say that anything went wrong,"
said Chief Girard " Toot" Wren. " They did
everything possible to get the kid."
Boone County firefighter Doug Westhoff
who had to be treated for exposure after try-ing
to reach Neal by boat said the opera-tion
may have looked confused but that res-cuers
did their jobs properly.
" We had several different ideas in our
minds of how to rescue the little boy," he
said, " and we were carrying them out in dif-ferent
stages. I felt the two departments
( county and city) worked great together."
Yet policeman Al Mitchell, one of the di-vers
involved in the rescue, complained that
he and Officer Jim Ford became tangled in
safety lines that were running to boats on the
pond.
" Officer Ford got tangled up in the ropes
the Fire Department had out there," Mitch-ell
said. At one point Ford was immobilized
by lines around his neck and had to be pulled
to safety. " We almost lost Ford."
Immediately after Ford was pulled free of
the ropes, the divers were ordered out of the
water by one of their superiors.
" I was only briefed by Doug Westhoff a
county fireman," Mitchell said. " The indi-vidual
firemen we talked to were as helpful
as they could be to us."
But, Mitchell added, there was no direc-tion
whatsoever from the fire official in
charge.
Columbia Battalion Chief Ken Owens, who
was in charge of the city fire crew, said he
wasn't aware of any dissatisfaction with the
rescue.
" I didn't hear that brought up at all during
the critique," Owens said of the Sunday af-ternoon
session that involved representa-tives
of virtually every agency that partici
pated in the rescue effort city and county
firefighters, police, ambulance personnel
and a University Hospital helicopter pilot. " I
thought the whole operation ran smoothly."
The department critiques its efforts after
every major fire or rescue. Wren said. Those
involved Sunday agreed the University Hos-pital's
helicopter might have been used to
rescue the boy if it had been summoned to
the scene earlier.
" The helicopter could have been used,"
Wren said. " Maybe we could have gotten a
rope around someone and dropped them
down. We know it's available now."
Those present also recommended that the
Fire Department consider purchasing equip-ment
that could have helped in the rescue
longer ropes and life jackets for the firefight-ers,
for example.
Wren noted that some bystanders at the
scene were critical of the rescue effort.
" The men caught a lot of criticism from
the spectators out there," he said. " They
were ' criticized because they don't own a
boat." But even if the department had owned
a boat, it probably wouldn't have been taken
to the scene immediately because there's no
room for seldom- use- d equipment on the fire
trucks, he added.
" If we do everything possible," Wren con-tinued,
" I don't think we're open for crit-icism.
We're just human we don't walk on
water."
Virus symptoms well known
to tenth of local population
By Lydia Locklin
Missourian staff writer
Your head and throat ache, and you have a
mild fever. You feel the first tickle of a
cough that will drag on for several weeks.
You feel so tired, and every muscle is so sore
that you have to stay home from work today,
tomorrow and the next day.
You're not alone. Roughly 10 percent of Co-lumbia
is ill with the symptoms of some kind
of virus, says Kent Griffith, chief resident of
the department of family and community de-velopment
at the University Health Sciences
Center.
Most of those ill have an adenovirus, a
class of viruses that includes several upper
respiratory infections. Griffith says about
one- four- th to one- hal- f of his recent patients
have had the virus. Private physicians who
have the time to see up to 40 patients a day
may see 20 who are suffering from a type of
adenovirus, Griffith estimates.
No age group is immune, Griffith says.
Children and adults alike have been waking
in the morning with muscle aches. Then
comes a cough lasting several weeks, along
with a fever and sometimes nausea and vom-iting.
Severity ranges from a sore throat lasting
a few days to hospitalization of children as
well as adults because of dehydration and
the aggravation of other health problems.
Sandy Nichols, nurse coordinator for Co-lumbia
Public Schools, says the virus is low-ering
student attendance, but no more than
usual for this time of year. Ms. Nichols says
7-- 8 percent of the school population is out.
That could mean as many as 800 youngsters
staying home because of the virus.
" It's not epidemic proportions, by any
means," Ms. Nichols says. The state defines
an epidemic as an illness attacking 20- 2- 5 per-cent
of the population simultaneously.
" Normally, we expect high absenteeism in
January and February," she says. " It hit us
a little later this year."
Ms. Nichols says various viruses with dif-ferent
symptoms have been moving through
town from week to week. One week students
at a school will complain of aches and fever,
those across town will have stomachaches,
and still others will have chicken pox and
strep throat. Then the situation seems to ro-tate
the next week, Ms. Nichols says.
Griffith stresses that the virus syndrome is
not an epidemic of the flu, or influenza.
" That would be serious," he says. Not that
the miseries of viruses are not serious to
those who are bedridden.
Treating the symptoms is the only way to
deal with the virus because there is no cure,
Griffith says. He advises those with the virus
to control the fever, take an aspirin subsi- tut- e,
drink fluids and rest.
Nothing will guarantee that an individual
will not contract one of the viruses, Griffith
says, and adds the best anyone can do is to
practice good general hygiene.
Mother campaigns for stricter laws
By Chris Edwards
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY The man convicted
I of manslaughter in the deaths of 20- year-- old I Cathy Brickey and 27- year-- old Jay Charpen- -
E tier in an accident on Mother's Day 1980 had g been charged with drunken driving eight
B - months earlier.
H That has led the mother of one of the vio-lin
tiros to start a movement that seeks to get B those arrested for drunken driving off the
HB In September 1979, Kenneth P. Claus was
ma arrested on charges of driving while intoxi- -
HE cated, resisting arrest and second- degre- e as--
nB sault. The drunken- drivin- g charge was
ggj dropped; Claus pleaded guilty to the other
Phb two charges.
HB - Claus was still holding a valid driver's li- JE- aB
cense eight months later when he drove his ffl pickup across an highway median in St.
m Louis County and crashed into Miss Brick- HB- g
ey's car and another pickup.
9H Charpentier a passenger in Claus' truck
BBS and Miss Brickey died in the accident. The
Bffifa& L passengers in the second truck were serious- Kr- ai
injured.
IMpi - A blood test revealed that Claus had a HH Wood- alcoh- ol content nearly three times the
jngffi kgal limit. He pleaded guilty to two counts Rn of manslaughter and two counts of assault in
BH connection with the fatalities.
Death of daughter led mom
to target the drunken driver
DraDKTr
" If that man had been brought to trial im-mediately
in 1979 I feel he would not
have been on the road to kill my daughter,"
said Miss Brickey's mother, Marge Charle- vill- e.
As a result of her daughter's death, Mrs.
Charleville organized the St Louis chapter
of Remove Intoxicated Drivers Inc. As presi-dent
of the group in 1982, she led the success-ful
legislative campaign for stiffer drunken- drivin- g
laws.
This year, she's pushing legislation that
would force a drunken- drivin- g suspect to
give up his driver's license within days of an
arrest.
The proposed legislation would give the
state Revenue Department the power to re-voke
or suspend the license of a motorist who
failed a breathalyzer or other chemical test
measuring for alcohol. The driver could seek
a review, but suspension or revocation would
be automatic for those who didn't do so with-in
10 days of the arrest.
Criminal charges still could be filed
against the driver, but the removal of the li-cense
would not depend on a court convic-tion.
Proponents of the legislation say li-cense
loss is the real punishment They
expect prosecuting attorneys to press consid-erably
fewer drunken- drivin- g charges if the
proposal becomes law.
Legislators must answer an important pol-icy
question: Should a person be punished
with loss of his driver's license before a
court has determined he is guilty of drunk
driving?
Some say no.
Rep. Gary Smith, D- Dext- er, said the sum-mary
suspension and revocation of driver's
licenses could impinge upon the rights of
" the guy who feels innocent."
" This bill presumes you're guilty and goes
ahead and imposes the punishment" said
Smith.
The bill he referred to is sponsored by five
senators. A Senate committee considered the
proposal Feb. 9, but took no vote. A similar
bill is stalled before a House committee.
For Mrs. Charleville, sympathy for a driv-er
who fails chemical tests is misplaced.
" What we're trying to do is bring that sym-pathy
back for the victim,' ' she said.
She likened the withdrawal of licenses by
the Revenue Department to withdrawals by
professional licensing boards, which can be
done without a court decision.
But Sen. John Schneider, D- S- t. Louis
called the proposal a threat to the constitu
tional guarantee of due process.
The bill is before Schneider's committee.
His continued opposition could kill the mea-sure.
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A report from another state, however, in-dicates
the majority of drivers may not even
protest when their licenses are revoked or
suspended by an administrative agency.
Revenue Department spokeswoman Diane
Whitley said only one driver in five seeks an
administrative hearing under a similar pro- gram in West Virginia.
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9 a. m. Boone County Court meets.
County Courtroom, County- Cit- y Build-ing.
7 p. m. Missouri men's wrestling v. In-diana
State. University Fieldhouse.
7: 30 p. m. " The Hobbit." Columbia En-tertainment
Company's musical adapta-tion
of J. R. R. Tolkein's novel. Jefferson
Junior High School Auditorium, tickets
available at door. $ 3.50 adults. $ 2.50
children, students and senior citizens.
8 p. m. Missouri men's basketball vs.
Kansas, Hearnes Center.
8 p. m. Literary reading by novelist Ce-cil
Dawkins. Windsor Lounge. Stephens
College
inside
Business 7A
Classified 4- 5- B j
Comics 6B I
Opinion 4A j
Record 7A I
Sports 1- 3- B I
People 5A I